PlayStation.Blog

‘ruin’ Posts

Ruin (working title) was last seen on the E3 2011 PlayStation stage, when the presenter wirelessly transferred his PS Vita game session to a PS3 without missing a frame of the action. As technically impressive as Ruin’s cross-platform compatibility is, I’ve learned that it’s only the beginning of what co-developers Idol Minds and SCE San Diego Studios are planning for this ambitious multiplayer action-RPG.

Ruin’s developers are quietly building a wide, deep social network designed to keep you interacting whether you’re on the couch, on the bus, or someplace in-between. Travis Williams, Ruin’s energetic senior producer, walked me through the game’s social ambitions several weeks ago at a media showing in New York City. From the earliest days of Ruin’s development process, Williams told me, the development team was motivated to find a way to make its multiplayer competitive mode accessible and socially sticky — important considerations given PS Vita’s always-on wireless connectivity and the game’s Vita-to-PS3 cross-platform support.

If you only knew how many times producers hear those words it would honestly amaze you. We hear them all the time and we have to try our best to get excited about the words that follow that phrase. When we (Sony San Diego Studios and Idol Minds) stopped building PAIN expansions those words were music to my ears… Okay, what’s next?

When I started working in games 20 years ago, I worked as an RPG designer/tester. So when we decided to make a social action-role-playing game you KNOW I was on board. When the decision was made to make it a PS Vita product I got even more excited. Even among the nerds here in San Diego Studios I am branded nerdy. So making a game based in fantasy is right where I want to be. RUIN (Working Title) will be that fast-paced action-RPG that I have wanted to build since I first played old-school action-RPGs.